Why We Need Nuclear Power

Renewable Energy (Other Energy Resources) / Economics, Batteries

Date posted: 10/06/15

Julian Spector reports that renewable energy has had a busy year. California and New York have adopted ambitious plans calling for 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. A group of Stanford and Berkeley scientists has put forth an even bolder vision encouraging all 50 states to run on wind, water, and solar by 2050, without any nuclear energy or biofuels in the picture. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced his intention to go fully renewable with the city government power, too. A world without any fossil fuel energy would be a much cleaner place for both people and the environment. Right now renewable energy accounts for just 13 percent of all U.S. electricity. A significant increase in that share would lead to a major reduction in air pollution and its attendant diseases, not to mention the costs of climate change-induced flooding or wildfires. The lives, time, and property saved could be put to work tackling other social problems. But it is not entirely clear that a U.S. energy grid based on 100% renewables is the best way to achieve a zero-carbon future. On the contrary, there is a strong environmentalist case for approaching that goal with caution. Limiting a zero-carbon future to wind, water, and solar means greater costs of storing this energy, discarding other existing zero-carbon sources like nuclear, and generally blanketing the earth with panels and turbines as a means to save it. Technical and political feasibility aside, it is also unclear why a fully renewable grid would be more desirable than any other combination of zero-carbon energy sources. The 100% renewable roadmap is not an optimization study. It is not saying this is the best pathway forward in terms of any metric, particularly in terms of cost. They ask how much can we push renewables and only renewables? And what will be necessary to try to decarbonize with that pathway alone? Sounds like a yellow brick road paved with problems and excessive cost.